You are correct in that many blu-rays do not take advantage of the possibilities the format offers. I did not say it was a standard, only that when used with good source recordings it is the closest re-creation of the original source available. I own a lot of fairly crappy blu-ray transfers.

This reminds me of the early days of CD's when some companies would transfer an LP to CD without considering the huge equalization that went into an LP to make it sound decent on a turntable. The result was harsh, horrible sounding CD's that turned many off the format. I believe this happens with some companies and blu-rays too.

A friend came over with their new blu-ray of Jaws and was very disappointed in that the blu-ray version seems to be no different than the dvd version.

An example is the beach scenes, a perfect opportunity for good use of multi channel surround sound....and there is practically none. I think there was only 1 point in the movie when some useful surround kicked in and it was immediately noticeable because of it's previous absence!

But this does not negate the potential for the best re-creation of the original source, which IMHO should be the goal of audiophiles...I think stereofool and other high-end publications have retarded that progress which is one reason i no longer buy them. I do miss Sound & Vision and kept all my copies...a great Canadian magazine

Over the years, generally speaking, any of the source media discussed here will sound good , IF, the recording and mixing process is done with care right at the beginning. Many cds of popular music are recorded and mixed at several different locations, hence, often the uneven quality that it is heard on that recording. More often than not Jazz and Classical music is superior because they are recorded at one location where the engineering process always seems to be done with extra care and you will see this style of music used more often when a reviewer is doing critiques of various equipment.

If one looks back in the history of recorded music, when mono changed to stereo, even then there was a reluctance on the part of producers and recording engineers to deal with it and that went through several incarnations before they figured out what to do with it and finally established some sort of standard. Mult-channel audio(SACD and DVD Audio) among others was even a bigger challenge that they really didn't want to deal with, thus, it really never caught hold and prices were too high anyway. A lot of this stuff remained in the "boutique" category because the major companies such as Sony, didn't want to spend the money to promote it and gave up early on in the game. "AIX" is an example of a company who is really interested in superior recordings and sound, BUT, once again, it won't be mainstream and they are dealing in certain genres of music and many unknown performers.

In the case of older movies transferred to Blu-Ray, it just seems to be a case if the original movie was, in its original form and quality, crappy to begin with, there is not much one can do with the transfer and, of course, the audio, is never going to be as good as a newer movie with its superior recording systems.

.....with full enjoyment of the(almost entirely classical)music I appreciate.

John, I'm sure you will be able to correct me but I don't recall you ever posting a reference to non-classical music, (I'm using "classical" in a 'perhaps unfairly' broad sense.) I'm just being nosy curious but I would be interested to hear what other genres you listen to. Much of my own classical collection comes from your always excellent recommendations, thus the curiosity.

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With great power comes Awesome irresponsibility.

It's my favorite rock/symphony hybrid. You need to get past the first song or two to get a feel of how well these guys gel together. It's also fun to see how much fun the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra are having playing with Collective Soul. The conductor really holds nothing back.

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With great power comes Awesome irresponsibility.